Insulated lever-means for a ratchet wrench



March 3, 1959 H. BENJAMIN? INSULATED LEVER-MEANS FOR A RATCHET WRENCHFiled Dec. 12, 1957 INVENTOR. HOWARD BENJAMIN FIG.3

, ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,875,658 INSULATED LEVER-MEANS FOR ARATCHET WRENCH Howard Benjamin, Ithaca, N. Y.

Application December 12, 1957, Serial No. 702,409

4 Claims. (Cl. 81-63) This invention relates to an insulated wrench forlinemen working on high voltage electrical lines. It may be used toloosen or tighten nuts on any live electrical apparatus where there isdanger in working with ordinary insulated wrenches, and it has beenfound to be particularly useful to loosen or tighten nuts holding theinsulator clamps on post type insulators generally found on high voltagetransmission lines which may carry many thousands of volts. Suchclamping nuts, being exposed to the weather, tend to rust or corrode soas to be hard to turn. Insulated wrenches have been used, but it isdangerous for one man to use them since in applying them to the nut hecomes rather close, and in straining the wrench may slip so that he maytouch a live wire with fatal results.

The present invention is best handled by two men standing at a safedistance, one of whom holds the wrench socket on the nut while the otherman works the ratchet of the wrench thru a system of insulated leverspermitting both men to stand at a safe distance from the high voltage.The leverage obtained is such that a powerful force may easily beapplied to the nut, so that the wrench will work even with badlyrustedor frozen nuts. The device may also be used in other than electricalwork, where because of the size or arrangement of arnachine it is notconvenient for a workman to get close to it with an ordinary wrench.

Referring now to the drawings forming part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is a general view of the wrench mechanism in elevation, showingthe links and levers by which the forces are applied.

Fig. 2 is a detail view partly in cross-section on the line 2-2 of Fig.1, showing the socket wrench head and turning ratchet collar, with onewrench socket in a fixed axial position and the other wrench socketdriven thru a universal joint so that it may reach a nut at variousangles to the plane of the operating linkage levers.

Fig. 3 is a modification having an adjustable leverage.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the variousviews.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the primary wrench element with its operatingarm 1 is provided with a socket wrench head 2 as will be described morein detail later. In order to operate this socket wrench 1 at a safedistance there is provivded an approximate parallelogram with threeother levers, the arm 4 serving as a holding handle by which one of thetwo men can hold the socket wrench on the nut to be tightened orloosened at the electrical equipment or other machine being worked on.This arm 4 is principally made of insulating material such as wood, hardrubber, plastic or other good non-conductor of adequate strength andstiffness; and is provided at its free end with a suitable handle orgrip 5. The arm 4 is generally about three or four feet long, though itcan be made any suitable size.

Near the grip 5 is pivotally attached at 6 an operating handle 7terminating in a grip 8. This is the handle by 2,875,658 Patented Mar.3, 1959 which the socket wrench 2 is operated to tighten or loosen a nutbeing worked on by a second man while the first man holds the wrench inplace on the nut. The force of the second man is transmitted from thehandle 'I to a link 9 extending from the pivot 10 on the handle 7 to apivot 11 at the other end of the link 9 connecting it to a point nearthe free end of the wrench handle 1, so that the wrench 1 can beoperated from a safe distance. The socket wrench head 2 is of the usualtype with a control provided havingthe customary direction setting lever14 by which it can be set to either screw or unscrew a nut as desired bysimply oscillating the wrench handle lever 1.

The operating levers 7 and 9 are constructed of insulating material aswas the arm 4 described. The handle of the wrench 1 may also be whollyor partly of insulating material, though that is not strictly necessarysince the levers 4 7 and 9 give adequate protection to the two workmen.

Referring now to the socket wrenchmechanism shown in Fig. 2 more indetail, the wrench head 2 contains the usual ratchet which can be setfor either direction of rotation by the control lever 14 so that, whenthe head 2 is oscillated by the lever arm 1 it will drive an innersquare shaft 15 accordingly. in Pig. 2 there is shown fitting directlyon the upper end of the shaft 15 a suitable wrench socket 16 of a sizefor the work contemplated, which can be interchanged at will to fitwhatever size nut is being operated on. This socket in is fixedlaterally relative to the holding handle 4, and can be used when the nutis in such a position that it is not too diihcult to reach, as when thehandle 4 extends at right angles to the axis of the bolt or stud onwhich the nut is screwed.

However, when the handle must be at an oblique angle to reach the nut,the wrench socket 2 3 is employed. This socket is connected to theratchet head by a universal joint 21 which permits such nuts to beeasily reached at an angle and turned. The plane of the general apparatus need not then be dependent onjthe position of the nut. The manholding the positioning handle 4 may select whatever position is bestfor holding the socket wrench in place on the nut, while the other mancan operate the handle 7 to deliver the operative torque to the nut byway of the universal connection.

In general a parallelogram of levers as shown in Fig. l is the simplestand cheapest construction and might be termed the preferred form.However, other quadrilaterals can be used with opposite sides notparallel if desired, such as shown for example in Fig. 3, and suchmodifications have certain advantages.

in Fig. 3 an arm 7 is used in place of the arm 7 previously described,and this arm '7' is provided with a number of pivot holes 10 extendingalong it, into any of which the pivot of the link 9' may be inserted. Bythus using a variable number of pivotal locations 10' the connectinglink 9' may be given various positions not necessarily parallel to thearm 4, and the power of the leverage may thus be changed.

When the link 9' is in the position shown by solid lines in Fig. 3, thespeed of the wrench motion is reduced but the force of the leveragesystem is greatly increased over what it would be for a parallelogram.On the other hand, if the arm 9' is shifted to the position 9 as shownin broken lines the force of the wrench is reduced while the speed ofthe wrench motion is correspondingly increased. In either event theprincipal advantages of the device are retained, in that the wrench canbe safely held on the nut by one man while another man works the ratchetwrench, all at a safe distance from the high voltage electric lines. Itis possible for one man to hold and operate both the handle 5 and thehandle 8 at the same time, but it is safer and much more the particularforms shown but is susceptible to various modifications and adaptationsin different installations as will be apparent to those skilled in theart, without departing from the scope of the invention as stated in thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. In a safety wrench, the combination of a ratchet ing handle pivotallyattached near the other end of the holding handle remote from the wrenchsocket, and an insulated connecting link arm pivotally attached betweenthe operating handle and the operating arm of the socket wrench fortransmitting force from the operating handle to the socket wrench,whereby a nut on electrical apparatus may be turned without danger.

2. In a safety wrench, the combination of a ratchet type socket wrenchhaving an operating arm, an insulated holding handle arm pivotallysecured at one end to the socket wrench by which an operator standing ata safe distance may hold the wrench socket on a nut, an operating handlepivotally attached near the other end of the holding handle remote fromthe wrench socket, and an insulated connecting link arm between theoperating handle and the operating arm of the socket Wrench fortransmitting force from the operating handle to the socket wrench, anumber of selective terminal pivot locations for said connecting link,whereby the efiective leverage between the operating handle and thewrench may be changed, both the holding handle and the operating handlebeing sufiiciently remote from the socket wrench so that a nut may beturned without danger.

, 3. In a safety wrench, the combination of a ratchet type socket wrenchhaving an operating arm, a wrench socket and a universal jointconnecting said wrench socket to the ratchet type wrench, an insulatedholding handle arm pivotally secured at one end to the socket wrench bywhich an operator standing at a safe distance may hold the wrench socketon a nut, an operating handle pivotally attached near the other end ofthe holding handle remote from the wrench socket, and an insulatedconnecting link arm pivotally attached between the operating handle andthe operating arm of the socket wrench for transmitting force from theoperating handle to the socket wrench, whereby a nut on electricalapparatus may be turned without danger.

4. In a safety wrench, the combination of a ratchet type socket wrenchhaving an operating arm, a wrench socket and a universal jointconnecting said wrench socket to the ratchet type wrench, an insulatedholding handle arm pivotally secured at one end to the socket Wrench bywhich an operator standing at a safe distance may hold the wrench socketon a nut, an operating handle pivotally attached near the other end ofthe holding References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPATENTS 1,005,815 Doolittle Oct. 17, 1911 1,897,465 Coon Feb. 14, 19332,095,137 Johnson Oct. 5, 1937 2,574,212 Huss Nov. 6, 1951 2,582,442Lapp Jan. 15, 1952 2,737,839 Paget Mar. 13, 1956 2,834,237 Renoux May13, 1958 1 FOREIGN PATENTS 653,477

France Nov. 9, 1928

